The park took its name from the bleak hill which occupied the site, which, because of the chemical composition of its soil, was almost bare of vegetation- it was called Chauve-mont, or bare hill. The area, just outside the limits of Paris until the mid-19th century, had a sinister reputation; it was close to the site of the Gibbet of Montfaucon, the notorious place where the bodies of hanged criminals were displayed after their executions from the 13th century until 1760.[3] After the 1789 Revolution, it became a refuse dump, and then a place for cutting up horse carcasses and a depository for sewage. The director of public works of Paris and builder of the Park, Jean-Charles Alphand, reported that "the site spread infectious emanations not only to the neighboring areas, but, following the direction of the wind, over the entire city." [4] Another part of the site was a former gypsum and limestonequarry mined for the construction of buildings in Paris and in the United States. That quarry also yielded Eocene mammal fossils, including Palaeotherium, which were studied by Georges Cuvier. This not-very-promising site was chosen by Baron Haussmann, the Prefet of Paris, for the site of a new public park for the recreation and pleasure of the rapidly growing population of the new 19th and 20th arrondissements of Paris, which had been annexed to the city in 1860.

The work on the park began in 1864, under the direction of Alphand, who used all the experience and lessons he had learned in making the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes. Two years were required simply to terrace the land. Then a railroad track was laid to bring in cars carrying two hundred thousand cubic meters of topsoil. A thousand workers remade the landscape, digging a lake and shaping the lawns and hillsides. Explosives were used to sculpt the buttes themselves and the former quarry into a picturesque mountain fifty meters high with cliffs, an interior grotto, pinnacles and arches. Hydraulic pumps were installed to lift the water from the canal of the Ourcq River up the highest point on the promontory, to create a dramatic waterfall.

The chief gardener of Paris, horticulturist Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, then went to work, planting thousands of trees, shrubs and flowers, along with sloping lawns. At the same time, the city's chief architect, Gabriel Davioud, designed the miniature Roman temple on the top of the promontory, modeled after that at Tivoli near Rome, as well as belvederes, restaurants modeled after Swiss chalets, and gatehouses like rustic cottages, completing the imaginary landscape.

The park was finally opened on April 1, 1867, coinciding with the opening of the Paris Universal Exposition, and instantly became a popular success with the Parisians.[5]

The heart of the park is an artificial lake of 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres) surrounding the Île de la Belvédère, a rocky island with steep cliffs made from the old gypsum quarry. On the top is the Temple de la Sibylle, fifty meters above the lake. The island is connected by two bridges with the rest of the park, the island is surrounded by paths, and a steep stairway of 173 steps leads from the top of the belvedere down through the grotto to the edge of the lake..

The grotto is a vestige of the old gypsum and limestone quarry that occupied part of the site, now adjacent to rue Botzaris on the south side of the park. It is fourteen meters wide and twenty meters high, and has been sculpted and decorated with artificial stalactites as long as eight meters to make it resemble a natural grotto, in the style of the romantic English landscape garden of the 18th and 19th century. An artificial waterfall, fed by pumps, cascades from the top of the cave and down through the grotto to the lake.

A twelve meter long masonry bridge, twenty-two meters above the lake, known as the "suicide bridge", allows access to the belvedere from the south side of the park. After a series of well-publicized suicides, the bridge is now fenced with wire mesh.

A 63-meter long suspension bridge, designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1867, allows access to the island in the lake.

The so-called suicide bridge, 22 meters high, gives access to the island from the south side of the park.

Most of the architecture of the park, from the Temple de la Sibylle, the cafes and gatehouses to the fences and rain shelters, was designed by Gabriel Davioud, chief architect for the city of Paris. He created a picturesque, rustic style for the parks of Paris, sometimes inspired by ancient Rome, sometimes by the chalets and bridges of the Swiss Alps.

A rain shelter, made of cement formed to look like wood.

Davioud's paths on the Belvedere feature fences made of cement "logs."

The main entrance to the park is at Place Armand-Carrel, where the mairie (town hall) of the 19th arrondissement, also designed by Davioud, is located. There are five other large gates to the park: Porte Bolivar, Porte de la Villette, Porte Secrétan, Porte de Crimée, and Porte Fessart, as well as seven smaller gates on the park perimeter.

The park currently hosts three restaurants (Pavillon du Lac, Pavillon Puebla, and Rosa Bonheur), two reception halls, two Guignol theatres, two Waffle Stands. Notably, in 1892, the two Guignol theatres were established in the park and have become popular attractions for generations of visitors.

As part of a city-wide wireless internet-access plan, the park has activated four wi-fi zones.

When established in 1867, the park was envisioned by Napoleon III as a garden showcase. This original intent of the park continues to guide the park's direction. Currently, there are over 47 species of plants, trees, and shrubs cultivated in the park. Many of the plants and trees found in the park were those originally planted when the park was created.